Some conventional amusement rides provide entertainment to passengers by offering sudden acceleration and/or free-fall sensations. However, many such amusement rides suffer from several shortcomings.
Certain conventional amusement rides employ rapid acceleration techniques to give passengers the sensation of sudden acceleration techniques. Some rapid acceleration techniques include electromagnetic propulsion systems that accelerate a passenger without the aid of gravity. Other rapid acceleration techniques include employ resiliently flexible chords to accelerate a passenger without the aid of gravity. Regardless of the type of acceleration technique, conventional techniques can be complex and unreliable.
Various amusement rides offering free-fall sensations conventionally tether the passenger to an object that is fixed relative to the ground. For example, some amusement rides include a passenger car movably coupled to a non-vertical track, such as a rollercoaster, while other amusement rides include passenger cars movably coupled to a vertical track, such as a drop tower. Other amusement rides, such as bungee swings, launch a passenger coupled to a resiliently flexible chord. Although these conventional amusement rides may provide a passenger with free-fall sensations, in each case, during upward or downward motion, the passenger remains tethered, such as via a track or chord, to an object fixed to the ground.